It can be appreciated that ultraviolet light irradiation of cow's milk was the method of choice to create vitamin D beginning in the mid nineteen twenties until the early nineteen fifties. This process was abandoned then because it became possible to create vitamin D synthetically. Epidemiological research suggests a correlation between the elimination of ultraviolet light irradiation of cow's milk and appears to coincide with an increase in the incidence of certain types of human cancers, namely, breast and prostate cancers.
A comparative study published in 1989 showed that in Europe, two areas with higher milk consumption—Scandinavia and The Netherlands—also had higher breast cancer rates.
In their 1993 article in Endocrine Reviews, Grosvenor et al. “Hormones and Growth Factors in Milk” listed insulin-like growth factor-1 as one of the agents present in cow's milk. This has served to link IGF-1 levels to an increased risk of prostate cancer.
In a February 2000 article by Shaneyfelt et al. entitled, “Hormonal Predictors of Prostrate Cancer: A Meta-Analysis” which appeared in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, it was stated that, “ . . . epidemiologic studies unequivocally link serum insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels with risk for prostate cancer.”
A similar correlation was found among pre-menopausal women with breast cancer by Hankinson et al. in a 1998 article in Lancet entitled, “Circulating Concentrations of Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 and The Risk of Breast Cancer”.
Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is a protein with hormone-like properties. It is folded upon itself and is held in this configuration by three (3) sulfur-sulfur links (disulfide bonds). IGF-1 is derived from its structural configuration, which is similar to that of insulin.
IGF-1 is mainly produced in the liver, but also exists naturally in human breast milk. IGF-1 levels vary widely in the blood stream and are influenced by exercise, diet and age. It is a potent stimulator of cell proliferation and it is at its highest levels during the teen years. With advancing age, the levels of IGF-1 drop off.
It has been found that IGF-1, which is secreted in human milk and is identical to that secreted in cow's milk, consists of exactly the same 70 amino acid sequence. This protein hormone is very heat stable and is not destroyed during pasteurization. (Collier et al. Factors Affecting Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Concentration in Bovine Milk, Journal of Dairy Science 1981, Vol. 74 (9):2905-11.)
IGF-1 is carried in the blood stream attached to one (1) of six (6) different binding proteins. These binding proteins are labeled one (1) through six (6) with insulin-like growth factor binding to protein three (3) being the most common. It has been found that 85% of IGF-1 in the blood stream is bound to binding protein-3. Binding protein-3 is also found in human milk and its fragments in seminal fluid.
Although ultraviolet light irradiation of cow's milk is known, its use in the prior art was solely to generate vitamin D in situ, whereas in the subject invention it is sought to use ultraviolet radiation to reduce the sterol ring structure of certain androgenic and estrogenic compounds, such as estrogen sulfate, which is a water-soluble estrogen found in milk, as well as rendering biologically inactive the structure of other biological compounds which are capable of stimulating cancer growth, and includes, but is not limited to, compounds such as insulin-like growth factor one, epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor beta and prostate specific antigen.